Top 5 badass lesser heroes of fantasy literature

Sidelining surrealism temporarily, this post instead looks at another passion of mine: fantasy literature. I fancied having a go at one of those ‘top whatever’ lists you see all over the place and so I tried to think of something that I hadn’t come across before… Therefore I give you my top 5 badass lesser heroes of fantasy literature. I’ve purposely veered away from major franchises such as Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and Discworld, as the characters from these sagas have been worn to a thread in lists like this. By ‘lesser’ I’m talking about characters who aren’t considered as the central character within the work, but they may still in some cases play a key role. Let me know in the comments of any other badass lesser heroes and heroines of fantasy you have come across who you think would also make worthy candidates.

#5. Colonel Bremer dan Gorst – First Law (Joe Abercrombie)

Colonel Gorst is a minor character in Abercrombie’s more famous First Law trilogy, but he plays a more substantial role within The Heroes, a standalone work which revisits the world and many of the characters from his original series (it also happens to be one of the best standalone works of fantasy I’ve ever read – be sure to check it out). For a number of years Gorst was leader of the revered Knights of the Body (the king’s royal bodyguards), but following a near-miss disaster at a royal event which almost led to the king’s untimely demise, he was subsequently disgraced, outcast and demoted to a military grunt on the front line (though his exceptional leadership and his skills on the battlefield meant he still retained significant influence in his newfound station). Despite his imposing physical stature Gorst has a very high-pitched and feeble voice, which is relentlessly mocked by many of his fellow Union officers and higher ranking kinsmen who know that he would not react for fear of further demotion. In battle however, Gorst is unparalleled. Not only is he the recurring champion swordsman of The Contest (with the exception of his loss to Jezal dan Luthar, which he would easily have won if not for the interference of the great sorcerer Bayaz, who enchants Luthar), the biggest sword-fighting competition in the Kingdom, but he is also the top unenhanced (i.e. no magical or preternatural abilities) fighter in the First law universe. Even the infamous Logen Ninefingers (the main protagonist of The Blade itself) would only stand a chance against Gorst were he to awaken ‘the Bloody Nine’, his maniacal and nigh-unkillable alter-ego, which is surely what we might consider as a form of enhancement. Gorst frequently bests entire companies of Northmen, the sworn enemy of the Union, and defeats high ranking generals of the North with relative ease. But aside from his fighting prowess, Gorst the unfortunate is also shown to have an essentially good heart, and although he is despised by almost all those around him, he is still more willing than most to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Union and for valour.

“The river became a mass of stomping hooves and spray, flying metal and blood, and Gorst hacked his way through it, teeth ground together in a frozen smile. I am home… he swung, and swung, and swung, denting armour, smashing bone, splitting flesh, every jolting impact up his arm a burning thrill. Every blow like a swallow to a drunkard, better, and better, but never enough…” – The Heroes

great artistic rendition of Gorst in The Heroes (artist unknown)

#4. Silk – Belgariad (David Eddings)

Prince Kheldar of Drasnia, or ‘Silk’ as he is better known, was always in a league of his own. At an early age his Machiavellian personality drew the interest of the immortal sorcerer Belgarath, who observed that he was smarter than most men by the age of ten, and among the wiliest ‘men’ he had ever stumbled across in all his many generations of life. Spy, deadly assassin, master merchant, business overlord, infamous thief, acrobat, champion swordfighter, and heir to one of the most powerful seats in the empire, the only people who pose even a mild threat to Silk are magic-users, and even they are always cautious not to underestimate him. His position of royalty is juggled with a repository of alternate personas which he slips into freely as he travels to different parts of the empire, even going so far as to shift his facial muscles to adopt a different appearance for his various roles. Archetypal handsome hero he is not; in fact Silk is described as being hideously ugly, with a prodigiously large hooked nose and rat-like features, and much shorter and stockier than the average man. But despite his aesthetic pitfalls, Silk’s charm and skill with words enable him to seduce some of the most beautiful and high-ranking women in all of Drasnia, even whilst not donning his princely persona. Silk is a crucial member of the fellowship responsible for protecting Garion (a young wizard who must fulfill an ancient prophecy to vanquish ultimate evil – standard hero stuff), and gets them out of countless perilous situations by way of his cunning and deadly skills in combat. His ever jocular nature among friends belies a misunderstood soul, whose isolated, regal childhood and superior intelligence have made him forever an outsider, but nevertheless a quintessential fantasy hero.

I always imagined Silk to look a lot like Danny Devito’s Penguin from his description in the Belgariad

#3. TenSoon – Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series

TenSoon is one of the kandra, a genetically and magically engineered race of shapeshifters originally designed as loyal slaves to the will of the evil Lord Ruler (the main antagonist in the original Mistborn series). Having been created using a dark form of magic known as Hemalurgy, also known as ‘the art of Ruin’ (Ruin being the most malign of the greater gods in the mistborn universe), many kandra are not only shapeshifters but are also capable of prodigious magical feats inherited through powers of allomancy. Due to their unique set of skills the kandra are often manipulated and used as assassins by devious humans, who take advantage of the kadras’ instinct to follow rather than to think independently, a trait instilled as a means to avoid them using their great power against the Ruler himself. The kandra homeland is very secretive, and within their closed society they do not keep their replicatory forms but rather don what is known as their ‘True Body’; a (usually) humanoid exoskeleton made up of very rare earthly materials like quartz and precious stones; the True Body is often translucent giving them a striking and ghostly appearance. TenSoon is third generation kandra and is around 700 years old, making him one of the oldest and most experienced of his kind. He is also a rebel and anarchist among his race, and seems somehow able to resist the magically instilled subservience which continues to consume his brethren. TenSoon was originally an antagonist in the series, killing and deceptively replacing another experienced wolfhound-shaped kandra, OreSeur, in order to spy on Vin (the original mistborn’s main protagonist). This is the first killing of a kandra by a kandra, and it is clear that even though it was performed whilst under the instruction of a powerful human master, the killing affected TenSoon very deeply, and was a huge weight on his conscience. Once within his new company something changes in TenSoon, and he find a like-mind in Vin, and grows genuinely attached to her, and soon realises that she is the key to overthrowing the dark reign of the Lord Ruler and freeing his race from its eternal shackles. And so TenSoon comes clean. He sees a great power converging around Vin, and vows to help her fulfill the prophecy, and indeed ends up playing a crucial and decisive role in aiding Sazed (a prophet like figure and spiritual guide to Vin) to overthrow his kin who are still bent to the will of the Lord Ruler. Perhaps what makes Tensoon such a great hero is his endless strife to overcome himself; to overthrow instinct and morality, in order to recognise and fight for what is good for his people no matter how great the cost, and how much torment he must endure.

TenSoon takes the form of a giant wolfhound

#2. Nakor – Raymond E Feist’s Riftwar Saga (and others)

Imagine a cross between Yoda, a Shaolin monk and Nietzsche and you might come somewhere close to Nakor the Isalani, one of the most endearing characters in Feist’s epic Riftwar saga. Despite his staggering magical capabilities Nakor believes magic to be nothing more than ‘trickery’, and seeks to alter the fundamental perceptions towards magic in the universe as a way of unleashing a much greater hidden power in knowledge. He is believed to be centuries old, founds his own quasi-Buddhist religion and has the godly ability to inhabit any physical body on a whim, though he chooses to stay permanently in the body of an aged, slight and impish Isalani farmer. Nakor is even said to harbour a piece of a greater god; that being, perhaps unsurprisingly, the cunning trickster god Kalkin (a Loki figure in Feist’s mythos). Nakor carries a rucksack on his many journeys across the empire which contains both a portal to another world containing unlimited apples and oranges, and an ancient book which contains all possible knowledge in the universe (the Codex of Wodar Hospur). He sleeps with this book under his pillow every night, and the knowledge filters through to him in his dreams: it is believed that someday this great and ever-growing store of knowledge will tip him into madness. Nakor is undoubtedly a key figure in overcoming many of the evils faced throughout the many Riftwar adventures, and one of the only ‘magicians’ capable of confronting the gods. But what makes him a truly original character in fantasy literature is that he questions what magic really is: Nakor asks us to, from inside of a magical world no less, embrace magic as nothing more than simulation, trickery, as a means of revelation. When we read a work of fantasy we are being asked to accept the irrational as rational, illogical as logical and yet, in this figure who is seen as madness incarnate within his world, Nakor inverts this process, instead providing us with a dogged rationality. Nakor thus emblematises the idea that magic is merely a form of perception: it is impossible to escape magic, it is all around us, only hidden by a very convincing wall of rationality and logic which we all need to slip away from every once in a while…

#1. Diomedes – Homer’s The Iliad

Although it is still up for debate as to how much of the events depicted in the Iliad are actually fantasy, due to the centrality of Greek Mythology and the intersection of mythical characters with worldly events, it seems not unreasonable to include The Iliad in this list (perhaps even as the first ever known work of fantasy). Now among the long list of famed great warriors who fought in the Trojan war – including Achilles, Odysseus, Greater Ajax, Hector, Aeneas and Sarpedon to name but a few – none come even close to Diomedes in terms of sheer awesomeness. Despite being the youngest of all the major generals of the Trojan war, Diomedes is nothing shy of a one man army in battle, a master strategist and tactician, and arguably the wisest and most courageous of all the mortal heroes. Moreover, he is also the only mortal to injure 2 opposing Olympian greater gods (and he would have easily killed the demigod Aeneas, one of the greatest Trojan heroes, were it not for Olympian intervention) including Aphrodite and none other than the God of War himself (!!!), Ares, whom he skewered with a spear and forced to leave the battlefield with his tail between his legs.

Although the Trojan war is the best known expedition in modernity, many historians believe that the Epigoni war, which occurred a decade or so earlier, was perhaps of even greater importance to the ancient Greeks, and there is evidence to suggest that there was a significantly larger scope of epics which were dedicated to this war, though unfortunately none of them survived (though they are frequently referred to in many other surviving works). But historians have managed to piece together a great deal of the history of the Epigoni war, and there is one figure who stands out as the hero of that war: a fifteen year old Diomedes. Some of his other feats in his younger years include: sacking the legendary city of Thebes; becoming the youngest king ever to rule Argos and doing so for a great many years; obliterating an entire traitorous neighbouring Kingdom (Calydon) following the imprisonment of his grandfather, Oeneus, during a coup, only leaving once Oeneus was back on his throne; founding and building a mythical city in honour of his grandfather (who was assassinated a number of years after Diomedes returned him to his station). And all of this years before the Trojan war even took place! To top it all off, Diomedes is one of only 2 Greek Mythological mortal figures (the other was Menelaus) who was offered immortality (he was actually offered to become a Greek God!) due to his superiority over all other mortal men. If Diomedes is not the ultimate badass lesser hero, then I don’t know who is.

Statue of Diomedes

‘I hold him mightiest of them all; we did not fear even their great champion Achilles, son of an immortal though he be, as we do this man: his rage is beyond all bounds, and there is none can vie with him in prowess’

– The Iliad, description of Diomedes

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NB: featured image is by Wang Ling (or ‘wlop’ on deviantart)

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5 thoughts on “Top 5 badass lesser heroes of fantasy literature”

Tensoon and Nakor, 2 of the best in what i perceive as secondary characters in the storyline of the books and world they inhabit, BUT make the story so much more enjoyable because they are there, i would love to read a book, or a number of books from there point of view, BEFORE they got caught up in the lives of the main characters in the world they inhabit. Nakor would be a good read to find out in more detail how he got to be who he is and what he went though to get to be the person we meet when he appears in prince of the blood, we do get glimpses of his life every now and then though out what i consider the life and times of pug but i want more, Tensoon would be a good read purely because we know so little about his race and who and what he served before Kelsier bought his contract. I read alot of sci fi and fantasy and these 2 are among the top secondary characters that i want to know more about.